International Training Programme in Narrative Therapy

International Training Programme
in Narrative Therapy
A collaboration between
Narrative Practices, Adelaide, Australia,
The Narrative Teaching Partnership/Centre for Narrative Practice, UK,
Art Fisher, Canada & Allan Holmgren, DISPUK, Denmark
3 blocks of 2 weeks of intensive training in therapeutic practice based
on narrative and poststructuralist ideas.
Weeks 7 - 8, (15 th to 19 th & 22 nd to 26 th of February) 2010,
In Adelaide, Australia:
Maggie Carey, Shona Russell & Rob Hall
Weeks 33- 34 (16 th to 20 th & 23 to 27 th of August) 2010,
In Manchester, UK:
Sarah Walther, Amanda Redstone, Mark Hayward & Hugh Fox
Weeks 11-12 (14th to 18th & 21st to 25th of March) 2011
In DISPUK, Snekkersten, Denmark:
Art Fisher & Allan Holmgren
Working hours: 9am-12 noon & 2-5pm
D I S P U K · The Danish Institute of Supervision, Development of Staff, Education and Consultation · Snekkersten Stationsvej 13 · 3070 Snekkersten
Phone: +45 49 22 51 61 · Fax: +45 49 26 61 56 · E-mail: dispuk@dispuk.dk · www.dispuk.dk

About this international training programme in Narrative Therapy
In establishing the Narrative Practices Adelaide in 2008, Michael White had expressed a
wish to collaborate with other centres of teaching and practice around the world and his
Associates Maggie, Shona and Rob see this course as an active way in which this
intention can be carried forward. It is the intention of this course to continue Michael
White’s creative, original and highly influential therapeutic work, following his death in April
2008.
TEACHING BLOCK ONE
Maggie and Shona have been involved in the teaching of narrative therapy and
community work for many years, both in Australia and internationally. They have a great
deal of experience in the facilitation of international courses in narrative therapy and have
been involved in providing training in this way since 2002. They both have an active
therapy and supervision practice and have been using the narrative approach in their
therapeutic and community-based work since the early 1990’s.
The focus of Rob’s training relates to his extensive practice in the area of gender violence
and abuse, inviting men to take responsibility for the violence with which they engage.
The initial teaching block (the first two weeks) in Adelaide will be an introduction to the
narrative approach that will offer a foundation for the development of practice skills, with a
particular focus on Michael White's 'maps' of narrative practice. This introduction will be
underpinned by exploration and discussion of some of the ideas and principles that inform
the various practices.
Check out the web-site from Narrative Practice Adelaide: www.narrativepractices.com.au
TEACHING BLOCK TWO
Amanda, Mark, Hugh and Sarah have enjoyed teaching narrative practices in many
different countries and contexts and are at the forefront of narrative teaching and practice
in the UK. They all work in the National Health Service, a publicly funded health provider,
as well as providing teaching and consultation privately.
The second teaching block in Manchester will review the micro maps and explore how a
consideration of the practices of modern power invites the development of conversational
pathways which make issues of context visible. The block will then explore more advanced
aspects of narrative therapy including: the ‘absent but implicit’; conversations which
address experiences of personal failure. and responses to trauma. This block will also offer
opportunities for participants to consider how these ideas are relevant to their own work
contexts, including supervision practices.
Check out the website: www.narrativetraining.co.uk
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TEACHING BLOCK THREE
In the first week of the third teaching block in Denmark Art Fisher will be responsible for
the teaching and training. Art is the director of Alternatives Institute in eastern Canada and
has an intensive background in anti-violence work, social justice activism, political visual
art and philosophy. He is known internationally for critically attending to the ideas (e.g.,
Derrida, Foucault) that have informed Michael White’s teaching and for creating innovative
developments in narrative practice. Through making meaning of narrative therapy in
relation to larger social narratives of romance and justice, Art unpacks complexities and
contradictions of narrative practice. His work offers developments of narrative attending to
these complexities and contradictions (e.g., externalization of ideas, collaborative visual
map and document making, exploration of “the absent but implicit” in the context of
“responding to violence”…). Art is particularly interested in exploring replication of violence
within both popular and alternative (e.g., narrative) work responding to violence, exploring
practice developments in this context, and attending to the politics of hope and possibility
within alternative practices.
Check out the website: www.alternativesinstitute.com
The second week of teaching block three will be with Allan Holmgren, who has worked
with Michael White and with narrative ideas and practice regularly since 1987. He has a
background in psychology. He is especially interested in the new developments in
narrative therapy that have been inspired by poststructuralist ideas. Both from Michel
Foucault who speaks about the care of the self and the processes of subjectification, from
Gilles Deleuze who speaks about the rhizome, lines of flight and uses geological
metaphors in understanding and describing identity, and from Derrida who introduces the
concept of conflictuality – another way of speaking about the “absent but implicit”. During
“Allan’s week” he will interview families and persons in the morning sessions and his
practice will be discussed in the afternoons.
Allan has worked with persons who have been labelled with severe psychiatric diagnosis
since 1976. Allan is the founder and director of DISPUK, one of the largest training centres
of narrative therapy in Scandinavia. DISPUK was founded in 1990. Allan is also adjunct
professor at Copenhagen Business School where he teaches in leadership, coaching and
organisational development..
Check out DISPUK’s website: www.dispuk.dk
What to achieve and gain from this training programme
Professionals who follow this training programme will:
• develop their skills for doing therapy in an ethical respectful way
• be exposed to a variety of ways that narrative therapy can be useful in psychiatric
settings, both inpatient and outpatient services, in all services working with children,
adolescents, couples and families (schools, social services, institutions, counselling,
etc.)
• extend their creativity
• achieve a thorough theoretical understanding of the principals and ideas that narrative
therapy builds upon
• nurture their skills in writing about theoretical ideas related to praxis
• develop friendships and connections to professionals from all over the world
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Structure and formal tasks
Each participant is required to write two essays (1-3 pages each) to be sent to the
teaching centre three weeks before each teaching block. The intention is for the essays to
make connections between concepts, theoretical ideas, practices and the work that the
participants are doing.
After each teaching block each participant is required to write a paper of 10 pages
reflecting on specific aspects of the teaching block and relating these to their own work
context. These papers must be completed no later than four weeks after the end of the
teaching block. The teachers will read these papers and give a written response.
Following completion of all three teaching blocks and the final paper, participants will
receive an International Diploma in Narrative and Poststructuralist Therapy.
The participants will be organised in small study groups (4-6 persons in each group) that
should aim to meet for at least three full days between each teaching block
Participants:
Therapists who work in different agencies engaged in therapy, counselling,
consulting and coaching. Minimum 18 and maximum 36 participants.
Price for participation:
1.250 € pr week / 2.500 € for each teaching block. Lunch is not included.
Participants have to pay for their own teaching materials and books.
Each teaching centre will separately send an invoice to the participants. Please
note that ALL invoices from the three training centres (a total of € 7.500) have to
be paid no later than 4 weeks before the commencement of the first teaching
block. Participants who for some reason drop out of the programme WILL NOT
GET ANY MONEY BACK.
Application for participation in the training programme
Please send details of your background, all the practical details with name, addresses,
phone numbers, e-mails etc and a photo, your connections to and experiences with
narrative therapy and your current work context no later than the 1 st of December,
2009 to DISPUK, Snekkersten Stationsvej 13, 3070 Snekkersten, Denmark
dispuk@dispuk.dk
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Teaching venue Adelaide, Australia: NADA, Mary Street, Hindmarsh.
Accommodation possibilities in Adelaide: There are many possibilities for apartments,
hotels and hostels. We recommend the Angas Regent Apartments group offering two and
three bedroom apartments in the centre of Adelaide; or East Park Lodge, a very pleasant
hostel, or search the web for something that suits. The teaching venue is on the Western
edge of the city and is a short taxi ride or bus trip from the centre. The Adelaide Festival of
Arts and the Fringe Festival will be happening during this block so there will be plenty of
life and entertainment in and around the city. This can put some pressure on
accommodation so you might want to make early reservations.
Teaching venue: Manchester, UK
Accommodation options in Manchester: Manchester is a thriving city, with many
restaurants, music and arts venues representing the cultural diversity of the community,
yet located within easy reach of beautiful countryside and the neighbouring cities of Leeds
and Liverpool. Manchester is close to a busy international airport served by a large
number of airlines, including budget air companies. There is a range of accommodation
options and the course hosts will email participants a list of suggestions.
Teaching venue Snekkersten, Denmark: DISPUK, Snekkersten Stationsvej 13. There
are a nice little Bed & Breakfast nearby (500m), two small 2-3 star hotels in Elsinore close
to the railway station with 3 minutes by train to Snekkersten (Hotel Hamlet and Hotel
Skandia), a more luxurious 5 star hotel nearby (500m): Comwell Hotel; and Danhostel,
which is an inexpensive youth hostel in Elsinore beautifully situated directly to the sea
(appr. ½ hour walking distance to the railway station in Elsinore). DISPUK is only 2
minutes from the railway station. It takes 40 minutes to go by train from Copenhagen to
Snekkersten.
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Maggie Carey Shona Russel Rob Hall
Hugh Fox Sarah Walters Amanda Redstone
Mark Hayward Art Fisher Allan Holmgren
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